'It was my bad': Domínguez reflects on costly wild pitch

April 30th, 2024

ANAHEIM -- almost wiggled out of it.

He had runners on second and third with two outs in the seventh inning in Monday night’s 6-5 loss to the Angels at Angel Stadium. He got Taylor Ward to 0-2. He needed just one good pitch to keep the game tied.

Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs called for a four-seam fastball up and away.

“I thought he was getting out of that,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.

Domínguez pulled the pitch low. The pitch rolled to the backstop. Stubbs fielded the ball off the ricochet and flipped it to Domínguez at the plate as Ehire Adrianza slid headfirst to score the go-ahead run. A Phillies infielder is supposed to float into the middle near the mound in case there is an errant throw. But nobody moved until the ball sailed over Domínguez’s head.

It allowed Mike Trout to score from second to take a two-run lead.

“It was my bad,” Domínguez said.

The Phillies have played mostly solid baseball this month. They are 18-9 in April, tying a franchise-record for most wins in the month. They can still set a new franchise record with a victory on Tuesday night.

But Monday wasn’t a good night. The Angels walked nine batters, almost begging the Phillies to bury them, but the Phils couldn’t come up with a big hit after a three-run first inning. grinded through five-plus innings, having uncharacteristically lost the feel for his changeup, which is his moneymaker.

Domínguez suffered some tough luck in the seventh -- Adrianza started the inning with a high chopper off home plate for an infield single -- as his season-long struggles continued.

“I didn’t feel great with it today,” Sánchez said about his changeup via the Phillies’ interpreter. “I didn’t feel like I usually do.”

Usually, his changeup feels great. Usually, it is getting awkward swings and misses. Opponents had batted .179 with a .179 slugging percentage against his changeup this season. They whiffed at it 40.2 percent of the time.

But Sánchez threw only 15 changeups out of 75 pitches total (20 percent) by the time he got pulled in the sixth inning. He threw the pitch more than one-third of the time in his first five starts this season. He had not thrown fewer than 21.3 percent changeups in any start the past two seasons.

He got only one swing and miss on it Monday, when Trout fanned at a 1-2 changeup in the fifth inning.

“We started to notice he didn’t have a great feel for it, so we just kind of grinded our way through those five innings, trying to get in the zone with sinker, slider, changeup,” Stubbs said. “He strikes out Trout on the changeup, but if you go back and look at it, it still didn’t have that movement that you really expect out of Sanchy’s changeup. Some days you have your best stuff. Some days you don’t.”

Sánchez’s changeup will return, but Domínguez is trying to work through some things. He has a 9.58 ERA in 12 appearances this season. His slider hasn’t been as sharp. He is pitching behind in the count more than ever.

“It’s hard,” Domínguez said. “But I still believe in myself. Every time they give me the opportunity I’m going to compete.”